Nettle and Wild Garlic Soup

Nettle and Wild Garlic Soup

Nettle and Wild Garlic Soup.  I loved making this partly as it's as cost effective a dish as you're going to get and there is something very satisfying about foraging and making something delicious that hasn't involved a trip to Sainsbury's.  The only cost are some base vegetables - potato, onion, celery and carrots with a couple of pints of chicken stock.  Since making this batch I have picked a load more and picked some broad leaved wild garlic in Devon which had a really powerful aroma.  You only need the leaves of the wild garlic and you must only take the tops of the nettles.  You can only do this when the nettles are young and the tops are nice and fleshy otherwise they become tough and inedible..

To make the soup you cook the base vegetables first.  Fry off the onion and celery and then add the chopped carrots and potato and cook until tender.  

Now add the nettles and the wild garlic and let this cook for a further 15 minutes.  Once you have finished cooking take off the heat and blend.  The colour is fantastic, not too dissimilar to watercress in both colour and texture.

I am not going to bother with a recipe for this as you can follow any recipe for watercress soup and add nettles and wild garlic instead of the watercress and you will come out with a lovely bowl of soup.  I am not sure about the stinging nettle garnish - looks good in the photo!!